How does one monetize a free service?

[Tomekmeister]

Hello Fastlaners!

I'm considering starting a hardware advisory business.
I want to create a website where we would help customers build a custom PC that fits their needs and budget.

How is this service different?
All the other websites only offer advice if you buy their stuff, which in most cases makes it way more expensive.

There's no need for me to share the details (not that I'm scared of someone stealing the idea, I just think it's irrelevant).

There's no competition, except for... community forums. If you create a thread saying "Could you help me build a 2000$ gaming PC?", you will get tons of ideas. The thing is, it's really hard to filter bad advice. That's when my company steps it. We would guarantee quality advice, as it would be given by a professional. The prices would relatively be very small, so that should not be a cause for concern.

As the thread title says: How does one monetize a free service?

PS: I would really appreciate if you provided examples of businesses in similar situation that succeeded / failed.

Thank you very much for taking your time to help me

 

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[TheKing]

My first thought is to be an affiliate.

Let people "build" a PC on your website by adding all the parts that are necessary for it to work. After they've "built" it (added all the parts) they click the "find lowest price"-button and they get a list of all the parts lowest prices. For every part you could link to 3 different sites that sell the part.

Of course, your link would be an affiliate link, so that when they click the link you get a percentage of the sale of the part.

Other ways to monetise this free service could be

• Ads on your site (limited income, lack of control, ugly)
• Sponsorship (hard to get without a nice traffic flow)
• Buy old parts of peoples PC and resell them
• Set up marketplace on your site where you compare the parts and give recommendations but also let your visitors buy and sell parts on your site for a fee

Out of the suggestions above, I think affiliate would be best. Remember that by being an affiliate for someone you lack control, I'd recommend starting out being an affiliate but transitioning into selling the parts yourself once you have traffic and capital.

Off-topic feature idea:
You should let people that don't have technical skills to be able to select what they want the PC to do instead of selecting all the parts.
For example: let them type in a couple of games they want the PC to be able to play on high graphics with a good frame rate, and then based on that selection you recommend a complete set of computer parts for them.

 

[Invictus]

Just off the top of head:

• Create a course/eBook compiling all of the information into a single series of steps. (Five Days to Your Gaming Rig)
• Advertising
• Sponsored Posts/Videos
• Consultations
• Create your own hardware for them to purchase. Such as a Case (motherboards and such will be much more expensive to produce)
• Forge partnerships and get a reasonable cut when your audience purchases something from your partner. If you're upfront and still recommend non-partners, it shouldn't bother too many people. Essentially, affiliate marketing.
• Assemble computers

Obviously, you'd need to do some research into each item. Some may not be feasible, your audience may dislike it, or may not work.

While I can't say how much revenue you could really generate, my friend and I built a computer together (he took the lead on building it) and the information was scattered IIRC. So there is at least a possible audience.

 

[andrewhook]

What about a repairing service with monthly/yearly plan?
Affiliation + Repair service could be a very profitable duo

 

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[Waspy]

Affiliate was my first thought too. There are plenty of sites that do this, however in my experience none do it well. Tend to just tell you to build whatever is gunna make them the most coin.

Subscription doesn't really work as people don't build computer often enough.

Ads would work if you had enough users.

Upsells, or even you carrying stock might work.

As mentioned "sponsored" parts could work well if you really got a large user base.

Personally, I would start on an affiliate system. However be completely focused on giving your user value, before considering the % rate of the parts you are advising.

 

[Tomekmeister]

Here's how I see it:
1. Customers fill the fields required for me to create a PC that suits them well.
2. They are forced to pay let's say 3% of their budget upfront. (That way I would maintain total control over the business)
3. I send links to all the parts needed.

* I can also offer an additional service of assembling the computers myself, once I've chosen all the hardware. Of course that would be an additional cost + a lot of shipping fees.

The question is, would anyone actually use my service if people are already doing it for free on forums?
Also, why isn't anybody doing it? Or if they do, their marketing is shit because I couldn't find it.

 

[Invictus]

Here's how I see it:
1. Customers fill the fields required for me to create a PC that suits them well.
2. They are forced to pay let's say 3% of their budget upfront. (That way I would maintain total control over the business)
3. I send links to all the parts needed.

* I can also offer an additional service of assembling the computers myself, once I've chosen all the hardware. Of course that would be an additional cost + a lot of shipping fees.

The question is, would anyone actually use my service if people are already doing it for free on forums?
Also, why isn't anybody doing it? Or if they do, their marketing is shit because I couldn't find it.

A personal experience event:

When my friend and I were building our PC, we stumbled upon a graphics card for quite a good deal. The seller was on eBay had a number of them. Apparently, he was trying to build gaming rigs for people and sell them, but he couldn't find a market for it. It seemed like everyone who wanted a gaming rig had no problem building it themselves. So he had to sell his graphics card to recoup some of his cash.

Perhaps he just failed in marketing himself. Perhaps there was no market for completed rigs.



Just thought that extra info may help you out.

 

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[Charnell]

Monetize by starting with affiliate programs then form relationships with vendors when you start getting traffic.

One angle you could take is building a PC for people that aren't into gaming. Most guides about building a PC are for gaming, so I'm having a hard time finding information about what to buy for image manipulation, audio production, and video production. Basically a rendering powerhouse. Don't want to buy a Mac, either.

Sounds like pcpartpicker.com.

 

[Tomekmeister]

Sounds like pcpartpicker.com.

Not exactly what I wanted to do, but I guess it still destroys all my plans.

One angle you could take is building a PC for people that aren't into gaming. Most guides about building a PC are for gaming, so I'm having a hard time finding information about what to buy for image manipulation, audio production, and video production. Basically a rendering powerhouse. Don't want to buy a Mac, either.

I guess I could dig deeper into it, but is there a market for it?

 

[Charnell]

Not exactly what I wanted to do, but I guess it still destroys all my plans.



I guess I could dig deeper into it, but is there a market for it?

I wouldn't make it your focus, but there's a market of at least one out there.

 

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[Tomekmeister]

Thank you everyone for advice, I've got everything I needed.

Merry Christmas

 

[Andy Black]

I wouldn't make it your focus, but there's a market of at least one out there.

+1

I *bought* Camtasia for my PC. (Demonstrating I'm prepared to pay for something.). My PC is fine for Word, Excel, email, and browsing, but now seems underpowered. Will other buyers of Camtasia find their PC suddenly insufficient?

A market can be defined as a demonstrated cashflow. What demonstrated cashflows indicate someone could be in the market for a faster PC *and* might be prepared to pay for a particular setup?

Can you come up with configurations for Camtasia users? For Udemy instructors? Etc?

I didn't buy Camtasia for it to sit on my shelf. Neither do I want to deep dive into PC specs to build something fit for purpose. Maybe I'd pay a bit more for a rig designed for what I want to do?

I don't like what Apple stands for, but I'd get one just because they're billed as being workhorses for this stuff. At this stage I just want things to work out of the box and I'm prepared to pay more for it.

Can you find more people like me who'd see the spend as an investment, and maybe even a business expense?

 

[Andy Black]

Not exactly what I wanted to do, but I guess it still destroys all my plans.

I guess I could dig deeper into it, but is there a market for it?

Try rephrasing? This thread might help:

• www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/yes-but.59605

 

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[Tomekmeister]

Try rephrasing? This thread might help:

• www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/yes-but.59605

I believe I already heard it in How To Win Friends & Influence People. Thank you for reminding me